In an economic sense, the COVID-19 pandemic has created winners and losers. While the tragic human and societal consequences are undeniable, when it comes to economics, some businesses have clearly fared better than others.
For example, the hospitality industry has basically been decimated. Meanwhile, the HVAC business has thrived during the pandemic.
Part of our success has been driven by increasing awareness of the role of air ventilation in fighting the virus. There has been renewed interest in air filtration, not to mention the benefits of UV-C to mitigate germs circulating in the air.
Useful And Timely Information
When customers wonder about how HVAC can be leveraged to make home and office environments safer, our industry’s business owners and technicians have mostly provided useful and timely information, while resisting (hopefully) any tendencies to exaggerate product claims or oversell possible solutions.
The most successful HVAC professionals during this time have been the ones who have educated their customers without taking advantage of their understandable anxieties about the spread of the virus.
Importance Of Comfort
Work-from-home movement has increased awareness about the importance of comfort as we spent more time in our homesThe whole work-from-home movement has arguably increased awareness about the importance of comfort as we have spent more time in our homes. Staying at home makes consumers more conscious of how well – or badly – their HVAC systems are operating.
Investing to improve home systems makes an even better economic sense if we are spending more time at home. In contrast, for instance, to an urge to invest more in our cars and trucks because we were spending all that time commuting.
Pandemic Shutdown
Shielding the HVAC market from the worst of the pandemic’s economic downside was the designation of HVAC industry employees among “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During the COVID-19 Response” by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The designation, in effect, enabled HVAC companies to continue to operate throughout various pandemic shutdowns.
Challenges Faced
Furthermore, HVAC technicians and companies have risen to the challenges of social distancing and wearing masks as they are invited into customers’ homes and businesses during the pandemic.
Personally, “I experienced a couple of visits from my local HVAC technicians early in the pandemic, and they could not have been more considerate and compliant with the prevailing norms to promote good health.”
Renovation Of Spaces
Business shutdowns also provided a window of opportunity to renovate spaces (including HVAC upgrades) without any worry about interfering with a customer’s operations.
Many facilities were manned by skeleton crews or completed shut down, and the quiet operation eliminated any of the usual concerns about disruption of business operations to address HVAC repairs or maintenance.
Business Opportunities
HVAC systems became the focus of strategies to make environments safer There have certainly been business challenges during the pandemic, and some installer companies saw a slowdown during the worst of it.
However, when it came time to open up businesses and schools again, HVAC systems became the focus of strategies to make environments safer.
These requirements also provided new business opportunities for HVAC professionals and helped to keep their employees engaged and employed.
Negative And Positive Effect
The impact of a global pandemic can be devastating for any industry. As the COVID-19 pandemic has played out, the tremendous impacts can be seen in almost any market sector.
However, as these things go, the pandemic has translated into a pretty good year for many HVAC companies, certainly better than some of the other small- to medium-sized businesses in a long list of industries.
The pandemic’s impact on increased demand for the HVAC industry’s products and services provided new opportunities to serve customer needs and solve their problems.
2020 has been a challenging year for all of us, but hopefully, HVAC businesses will finish the year in decent shape and looking ahead to an even more prosperous 2021.